Policy making and scholarship should go together, but much of the time they don’t. Decisions are often made with limited knowledge and understanding of the full issue. A classic case is the war in Vietnam, which American leadership became entangled in partly for lack of knowledge about Vietnamese nationalism. An aim of the Policy Studies Organization is to close the gap between academia and decision making, an ongoing issue.
Good ideas and good policy can go hand in hand. Our events bring together teachers and activists, professors and politicians. Our journals reach both legislators and researchers. We are determinedly nonpartisan. Some of us have to make rapid decisions and depend on well researched literature, while others spend years on a topic, building on decades of past PSO work. Unlike many think tanks, we do not have any axe to grind, unless it is one of accuracy and thoroughness.
We have made a difference. Not long ago a study we published regarding the opinion pages of the Washington Post and New York Times was noted became the subject of articles in both papers, and led to a reconsideration of who participates. Our interest in online education has contributed to the acceptance of online instruction as an important part of education. Very long ago our oldest journal, World Affairs, was a major force in abolishing slavery.
President of the Policy Studies Organization, Dr. Paul J. Rich on the Role of the PSO, Academia, and the InfraGard as presented at the Infragard Session as part of the Dupont Summit, at the Carnegie Institute of Science.
Our editorial board members and panels of peer reviewers are constantly popping up on talk shows and op- eds, and we like to think their activities to an extent draw on the PSO journals and books. We believe that they play a part in responsible discussion of the major issues of our day and that PSO is part of the way they participate.
政策研究组织（PSO）的职能
政策制定和学术研究应该携手共进，但很多时候它们并没有。决策通常是在对整个问题的知识
和理解有限的情况下作出的。一个典型的例子是越南战争，美国领导能力卷入这场战争的部分
原因是对越南民族主义缺乏了解。政策研究组织的一个目标是缩小学术界和决策之间的差距
——这是一个持续存在的问题。
好想法和好政策能齐头并进。我们的活动汇集了教师和活动家、教授以及政治家。我们的杂志
引发立法者和研究人员的关注。我们坚决保持无党派立场。我们中的一些人必须迅速作出决策
并依赖于经过充分研究的文献，而另一些人则在过去数十年的PSO工作的基础上花费数年时间
研究一个主题。与许多智库不同的是，除了保持准确性和缜密性，我们没有任何私人企图。
我们发挥了影响力。不久前，我们针对《华盛顿邮报》和《纽约时报》评论版发表了一篇研究
，后者引起了关注并成为这两个报社的文章主题，同时引发了关于“参与者是谁”的重新考量
。我们在网络教育方面的兴趣为人们接受在线教学作为教育的重要组成部分一事作贡献。很久
以前，我们最早创刊的杂志《世界事务》是废除奴隶制的主要力量。
政策研究组织董事长Paul J. Rich博士在卡内基科学研究所举办的杜邦峰会的Infragard会议上介绍
了PSO、学术界和InfraGard的作用。
我们的编辑委员会成员和同行评审小组不断出现在脱口秀节目和报刊评论版中，我们认为他们
的活动在一定程度上借鉴了PSO杂志和书籍。我们相信他们在关于当下主要问题的负责任讨论
中发挥了作用，并且PSO是他们参与方式的一部分。